my first sewing project: the poochie bag

The poochie bag. Everyone's making it. Really, you can check out this Flickr stream for proof. Most notably, my friends Tina and Christy have made several of them, and they encouraged me to take a stab at the pattern as my first real attempt at sewing.

This is the ugliest thing that I've ever been this proud of. I did so many things wrong that it would take forever to tally, but I want to focus on what I did right.

1 - I cut all the fabric out perfectly. I learned how to properly use all the fancy cutting tools my brother gifted me for my birthday, so that's a big win.

2 - I made the handles. Seriously, that is a big victory considering how little I know about sewing. Were they perfect? No. Pretty? Not really. But did I get 'er done? Why, yes. Yes I did.

3 - I got one of the steps wrong and didn't realize it until it was time for final assembly. I did freak out a little and put the project down for a while (3 weeks), but I finally got it right.

4 - I didn't quit. Learning something new is frustrating, and I tend to want everything to be perfect. Perfect the first time (and every time). So the fact that I went ahead and carried out the entire pattern, knowing good and well that it looked awful...is a big deal. Hooray for making baby steps :)

The fabric combination is awful. Just awful. The pattern calls for three fat quarters and I had these in my stash. I was tempted to go shopping for a lovely color combo, but I knew that this was going to be a rough, rough cut. So yeah, it's not going to end up in the Flickr poochie bag stream, but it certainly has a place of honor on the highest shelf in my craft room. All hail the greatest awfully ugly first sewing project ever. All hail.